The cities of Lowell and New Bedford in Massachusetts, Jamestown in New York, and McKeesport in Pennsylvania have all undergone years of adversity and decline, their economic bases having been badly damaged by structural changes in the national economy, particularly in the manufacturing sector. In situations like these, can local development efforts make a difference? Ross Gittell answers in the affirmative. This interdisciplinary work focuses on comparative case studies of the four cities. The book reveals how public, private, and community-based local economic development initiatives affect local economic performance: what works and what does not work. City leaders and institutions can help reorganize and "reshuffle" local resources, with results that include increased investment, greater effort by local individuals and institutions, more cooperation among different development interests, and improvement in city economic positioning relative to the regional economy and local development cycles. Gittell emphasizes the possibility of shifting from a "zero-sum game" (attracting jobs from elsewhere) toward the goal of converting underutilized local resources to higher-value uses through alternative forms of economic and political organization. Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The cities of Lowell and New Bedford in Massachusetts, Jamestown in New York, and McKeesport in Pennsylvania have all undergone years of adversity and decline, their economic bases having been badly damaged by structural changes in the national economy, particularly in the manufacturing sector. In situations like these, can local development efforts make a difference? Ross Gittell answers in the affirmative. This interdisciplinary work focuses on comparative case studies of the four cities. The book reveals how public, private, and community-based local economic development initiatives affect local economic performance: what works and what does not work. City leaders and institutions can help reorganize and "reshuffle" local resources, with results that include increased investment, greater effort by local individuals and institutions, more cooperation among different development interests, and improvement in city economic positioning relative to the regional economy and local development cycles. Gittell emphasizes the possibility of shifting from a "zero-sum game" (attracting jobs from elsewhere) toward the goal of converting underutilized local resources to higher-value uses through alternative forms of economic and political organization.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"Activist Scholar: Selected Works" "of Marilyn Gittell" features seminal writings by Marilyn Gittell, a preface by Sara Miller McCune (Founder and Executive Chairman, SAGE Publications), a general introduction by Ross Gittell and Kathe Newman, and part introductions by Ross Gittell, Kathe Newman, Maurice Berube, and Nancy Naples. The part introductions highlight the key areas of research Marilyn Gittell championed and provide insightful context for the articles that follow. In addition to exploring Marilyn Gittell's groundbreaking research, this book serves as a bridge to current and future community-based urban research that advances citizen participation and empowerment.Marilyn Gittell was a renowned scholar and social activist. A graduate of Brooklyn College (BA) and New York University (PhD), she held her first faculty appointment at Queens College (1960-1973) before serving as Associate Provost (1973-1978) at Brooklyn College. She then joined the faculty of the City University of New York's Graduate Center (1978-2010) as Professor of Political Science. She helped launch and was the founding editor of "Urban Affairs Quarterly," the leading academic journal in the field of urban research."Activist Scholar" highlights Professor Gittell's writings on community organizations, citizen participation, urban politics, the politics of education, and gender. She specialized in applied and comparative research on local, regional, national, and international policies and politics, and placed a high priority on training researchers and scholars. Marilyn Gittell was a mentor to hundreds of students in the City University of New York system, and her legacy of activism continues as her students, now on the faculties of universities across the nation, engage in important work globally.

Community Organizing provides new insight into an important national challenge how to stimulate the formation of genuinely community-based organizations and effective citizen action in neighborhoods that have not spawned these efforts spontaneously. Since Robert Putnam?s identification of the role of social capital in regional governance and economic development, there has been a virtual industry of interest and action created around the implications of his findings for the development of low-income communities. Yet, there remains a paucity of detailed empirical effort testing and refining his ideas. This book attempts to fill this gap.

Community Organizing distills lessons from a national demonstration program that employed a novel approach to community organizing consensus organizing. Consensus organizing enhances social capital, building both stronger internal ties and capacity in low-income communities and fostering new relations (bridges) between residents of low-income communities and larger metropolitan area support communities.

Using evaluation research and detailed comparative study of community development activity in three diverse demonstration sites, Ross Gittell and Avis Vidal identify key elements of building social capital, which strongly affect community development: comprehension of community development, credibility of effort and participants, confidence, competence, and constructive critiques of efforts. Other elements are more relevant to program management and implementation and include communication among participants, congruence of program effort, management of inherent contradiction, and adjusting implementation to reflect local context.

This book describes the limits and promise of building social capital and will be of interest to community development students and professionals.